坤 → 泰
Hexagram 2: The Receptive → Hexagram 11: Peace
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3).
Line 1
初六 履霜堅冰至。
Six at the beginning means: When there is hoarfrost underfoot, Solid ice is not far off.
Line 2
六二 直方大。不習无不利。
Six in the second place means: Straight, square, great. Without purpose, Yet nothing remains unfurthered.
Line 3
六三 含章可貞。或從王事。无成有終。
Six in the third place means: Hidden lines. One is able to remain persevering. If by chance you are in the service of a king, Seek not works, but bring to completion.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
雷行相逐，無有攸息。戰于平陸，為夷所覆。
Thunder rolls in pursuit, without a moment’s rest. Battle on the open plains; defeated by the barbarians.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth upon earth opens into earth above heaven — Peace, where heaven and earth commune. Yet the verse is violent: thunder chases thunder without rest; battle on the flat plains ends in defeat by the Yi people. The paradox is deliberate. Hexagram 11, Peace, achieves its harmony through the mutual descent and ascent of heaven and earth — but this free exchange also opens the border. The Yi, typically representing northern or eastern frontier peoples, overrun the lowlands precisely because the terrain lies open and undefended. From the Receptive to Peace, Kun's flat earth becomes the battlefield where openness enables both communion and invasion. Peace is not passivity; without vigilance, the very conditions that permit exchange invite catastrophe.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store